July 29, 2017 Compton, CA The Orange County Riptide and the Healdsburg Prune Packers, the top two teams in the CCL standings this season, will meet in the championship game 10am tomorrow at the MLB Youth Academy as the 2017 CCL Playoffs reach their culmination. Orange County defeated Healdsburg 7-1 in the winners’ game today to advance directly to the championship game while Healdsburg had to win the second elimination game tonight, defeating the Conejo Oaks 8-7, to advance. Juan Cortina (St. Edwards) pitched six innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out four, Timothy Holdgrafer pitched three scoreless innings in relief, and Logan Pouelsen (Hawaii) hit a solo home and a pair of RBI-singles to lead the Riptide in their winners’ game victory. Cortina, who did not issue a walk during his six-inning start, pitched with runners on base in all but one inning, yet never allowed Healdsburg, the top offensive team in the CCL this season, to get a rally going. Stranding one runner in the first, Cortina got all the run support he would need in the top of the second inning when Pouelsen led off with a solo home run, Connor Beck (Texas Tech) singled, Tate Shaw (Texas) doubled and, after Healdsburg’s starting pitcher Cooper Casad (Pacific) retired the next two batters, Joey Parente (Lewis & Clark) hit a two-run single to give Orange County a 3-0 lead. Cortina then stranded two runners in the bottom half of the second inning, and a double-play erased another baserunner in the third before Cameron Warren (Texas Tech) hit a solo home run to lead off the fourth inning to get Healdsburg on the board. Cortina then retired the next eight batters in order before stranding one final runner in the sixth inning. Four consecutive two-singles by the Riptide in the fifth inning increased the Orange County lead by two, and a leadoff double by Beau Phillip (San Joaquin JC), a two-out single by Pouelsen and a two-base error in the seventh increased it to 7-1. Holdgrafer gave up a single to Dane Tofteland (Indiana St) to lead off the seventh inning, but that was the only hit he allowed, striking out two over the final three innings to close out the win. Click here for the boxscore of this game A little more than an hour after their loss to Orange County, the Healdsburg offense showed their strength in the second elimination game today. The Packers scored three runs in the first inning on an RBI-double by Jamey Smart (LMU) and a sacrifice fly by Brett Bautista (San Jose St), three runs on three RBI-doubles by Smart, Warren and Tofteland in the third inning and one in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Warren in the fourth to jump out to a 7-1 lead over the Oaks. Justin Giovannoni (Pacific), who started on the mound for Healdsburg, benefitted from the early run support and, despite giving up a solo home run to Grant Mayeaux (San Diego St) in the second inning and a two-run home run to Chase Cockrell (Ole Miss) that cut the Healdsburg lead to 7-3, was in control of the game until the sixth inning when he issued three walks, the only walks of his stint, that all came in to score, two on a double by DJ Miller (Ole Miss) and one on a ground out by Jordan McFarland (Arkansas) that got the Oaks back in the game 7-6. Alex Waldsmith (Santa Clara) relieved Giovannoni after Miller’s double and retired the two batters he faced to limit the damage and, after Healdsburg scored one more run on a passed ball in the seventh inning, Chrit Rudkin took over the pitching duties. Rudkin faced a tough situation right away after walking the first batter he faced in the bottom of the seventh and then giving up a double to Milo Beam (Purdue) that put two runners in scoring position with no outs, but Rudkin struck out the next three batters, allowing one runner to score on a wild pitch, to maintain the Packers’ lead 8-7. He then pitched a perfect eighth inning and Jared Noonan pitched a perfect ninth to give Healdsburg the win and another shot at the Riptide and the CCL championship tomorrow. Kenneth Johnson Jr. (Cal St Bakersfield) started on the mound for Conejo, lasting only two innings to suffer the loss before turning the pitching duties over to Jacob Flores (USC), who allowed one run on three hits while striking out three in three innings, and Robby Medel (Arizona), who notched five strikeouts over the last four innings, allowing one run on two hits. Click here for the boxscore of this game In the first elimination game today, played just prior to the Orange County-Healdsburg matchup, Theron Kay (Northridge), Angus Denton (Arkansas) and Eric Ma (Whitman College) stranded 13 runners on base, allowing only two runs despite giving up a combined 14 hits, Brandon Lewis (LA Pierce College) drove in three runs on a two-run home run and an RBI-double and Miller and Sam Shaikin (Valparaiso) each hit two-run home runs to lead the Oaks to an 8-2 win over Neptune Beach that eliminated the Pearl from the playoffs. Lewis’s double was the third consecutive hit the Oaks strung together to lead off the game, following singles by Beam and Max Weinstein (Cal Lutheran) and, together with a Cockrell RBI-ground out, put the Oaks up 2-0. Miller’s home run in the third inning upped the score to 4-0 before James Free (Pacific) drove in a run for Neptune on a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Lewis’ home run in the seventh and Shaikin’s homer in the eighth then put the game away for the Oaks. Click here for the bocscore of this game Healdsburg and Orange County will meet in the CCL Championship Game tomorrow at 10am, with a second "if necessary" game to follow at 2pm should Healdsburg win the first game. Go to the CCL Playoffs Info Center for the complete playoffs schedule and details about how to watch the games live online.